A man who practiced underwater fishing died after a shark attack Sunday in New Caledonia. This is the second fatal attack in the archipelago since the beginning of the year.
The man was killed around 11 a.m. local time (2 a.m., Paris time) while fishing 500 m off the coast of an isolated islet in the commune of Poum, in the far north of New Caledonia, said a statement from the city. The victim was a "fisherman accustomed to the bay and there was no indication of a shark attack there."
According to the local gendarmerie, a member of his family tried to rescue him, without success.
Already in February, a 59-year-old Australian tourist was killed in the busy swimming area of the Château-Royal beach in Noumea, the same place where three weeks earlier a bather had been very seriously injured by a large shark.
Exceptional but serious attacks
These attacks, exceptional for their seriousness and their location in the heart of the capital of the archipelago, have struck public opinion and led the local authorities to drastic measures: swimming is thus totally prohibited in Noumea, with the exception since early May of an area of 200 m by 20 m with a protective net.
Shark killing campaigns, denounced by many environmental protection associations including the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), now take place every month. A total of 82 animals have been killed since the beginning of February.
The mayor of Poum, where Sunday's attack took place, has ruled out any ban on nautical and fishing activities in her commune. "Without ignoring the increase in the number of attacks on the territory, there is no family in Poum in which fishing does not occupy a prominent place," wrote Henriette Tidjine-Hmae in a statement, recalling that the last fatal attack on her commune dates back to March 15, 2000.
However, the mayor invites users of the sea "to respect all the rules of prevention by avoiding any risky human behavior".
